Working on a translation of Caesar's Gallic Wars, Gene and Finny discuss the current war. Finny admits that Leper's mental breakdown has convinced him of the reality of the war, and he tells Gene that he has even seen Leper at Devon. The boys decide not to tell anyone about Leper's presence.
Later, Brinker and other boys come to take Gene and Finny by force to the Assembly Room in the First Building. There Brinker formally opens an inquiry into the circumstances of Finny's accident to end any "stray rumors and suspicions." When Brinker questions him, Finny first recalls Gene at the bottom of the tree but then remembers that they climbed the tree together. This contradicts Gene's own false statement, and only Leper, who also witnessed the accident, can resolve the difference.
Leper appears and makes it clear in his own strange and mystical version of the event that Gene jounced the limb just before Finny fell. When Brinker insists they must investigate further, Finny shouts him down and rushes out of the room in tears. The boys hear Finny's cane tapping and then the sound of him falling down the marble stairs.
